A 13th century chair excavated in Schiedam

The remains of the chair (upside down) at the excavation site. Photo copyright J. Loopik.

In 2013 a group of archaeologists found the remains of an almost complete chair dating from the 13th century in Schiedam, the Netherlands. I was notified of the existence of this chair almost a year ago, and the archaeologist kindly send me some photographs of the chair under embargo that I did not post the photos on the blog before the actual report of the excavation was published. As the report has been published in 2015 (Hof van Cyrene - wonen aan de Schie. Bochtafsnijding Delftse Schie, gemeente Schiedam. Rapport 3617. edited by J. Loopik. ISSN 1875-1067),  I am able to write on this unique find.

The archaeological dig took place at the site of an old farmhouse, at the place where an artificial short-cut for the river Schie is planned. This place had been under cultivation as early as Roman times and building as well as domestic materials from the 13th century were found. Also, remains of a brick foundation of a house dating from the 14-15th century were excavated.

The three cities (Rotterdam, Overschie and Delfshaven) at the river Schie with some farmhouses in between. The actual farmhouse of the dig could be one of them. Anonymous painting from 1512 made for a court decision on a ground dispute. Nationaal Archief Inventarisnummer 686. 

Several parts of the chair displayed on a gridboard. Photos copyright J. Loopik.

The fragmented chair was found in a layer with ceramic sherds from the period 1200-1250. The parts of the chair were made from several types of wood - mostly consisting of beech, while 11 parts were made from willow (pins, stile, one seating board)), 2 parts from ash (stile) and 2 parts from alder (stile, wedge). There is some indication that some parts of the chair have been replaced during its life. The beech for instance was infested by woodworm, while the other (replacement) wood was not, even though these wood species are readily consumed by woodworm as well. Also the lower quality of finish of the other wood types indicate that they had different periods of construction. 

The parts of the seating boards. You can see that the seating board has room for the chair posts at the edges. Also visible is the chamfered rim of the board. Photo copyright J. Loopik.

  

The front legs of the chair with the connecting stile. On top are the supporting stiles for the seating boards. At each chair post the place of the mortises for the side boards are visible - two for each chair-post.  Photo copyright J. Loopik.

This shows the other side of the chair posts with the large mortises for the complete rail. The other side has only mortises half as large (see photo above). Photo copyright J. Loopik.

The small stiles are not fixed by wedges or treenails. Therefore they are not part of the actual construction of the chair. They likely were used to (underneath) support the boards of the seat. Photo copyright J. Loopik.

 Details of the connection of the stiles to the horizontal rail.

 The turned legs of the chair have a diameter between 6-7 cm. They are decorated with grooves and end in a turned globe. Such decorations are commonly found on turned furniture from this period. The seating has a slight trapezium form and would have approximately measured 42-48 cm by 35 cm. The three seating boards (of which one broken in two) fitted in grooves at the sides and were supported underneath by small stiles. At the edges of the seating, 3 by 3.5 cm pieces were cut out to provide space for the legs of the chair. At the ends and sides the seating is chamfered in order to fit into the grooves of the sideboards of the chair. No information is given in the report on the thickness of the seating, nor on the sizes and thickness of the board of the backrest. The former, however, is likely something between 1-1.5 cm based on the width of the groove. 

One of the front legs with a part of the side board. The board contains a 0.9 cm groove for the seating; the sides of the groove are 1 cm thicker than the rest of the board. Photo copyright J. Loopik.

The backrest of the chair. The arrow indicates a mortise for the smaller stile, such as the one on the right side. 
 Photo copyright J. Loopik.

 
Left: One of the posts of the backrest. The decorative turned rings can easily be seen. The backrest itself fits completely into the mortise at this side, but protrudes only half on the other side, where it is diagonally wedged. Right: The protruding pins from the mortise are diagonally wedged.

The chairposts are connected to horizontal rails. These are set completely into a mortise on one side, but protrude for only a half from the other side. There, the horizontal rail is fixed diagonally with a wedge. At least two horizontal rails are at the front of the chair. Some of the willow pins have a diameter of 1.3 cm, but it is unclear at which part of the construction they would have fitted. 

The construction scheme of the chair. While the report often contradict itself with regards to which part of the chair belongs where, the construction depicted here is correct. The legs of the chair could have been larger than they are now.  Image copyright by J. Loopik.

This chair is a unique find for the Netherlands, as no other seating furniture from this period has been found. (There is only one side of a bench from the 11th century found in Groningen, that dates from an earlier period.) Such a chair is usually a luxury product, however, its appearance at a farm could perhaps be explained by the fact that the site was mentioned as a domain of the earl of Holland in 1317. Only in Germany and Scandinavia, complete examples of this type of chair dating from the same period still exist.  Hopefully it will be conserved and displayed in a (local) museum. 

Some Scandinavian chairs of similar construction and age. Left: Chair from Misterhults church, Smaland. National Historic Museum, Stockholm, Sweden. Middle: A stool from Aspö Church, Södermanland. Right: Chair from Vallstena church, Gotland. National Historic Museum, Stockholm, Sweden. height 106 cm, width 60-72 cm, depth 53 cm. Images scanned from W. Karlson. Studier i Sveriges medeltida möbelkonst.

 

Left and middle: Skallvik church bishopschair chair dating from 1300, Soderkoping Sweden. Middle: A colour image of the Vallstena church chair. 

Chair from Norlanda Church, Visby, Gotland. The chair is made with oak chair posts and the remaining parts from ash. Mid-thirteenth century. Image scanned from Horst Appuhn. Beitrage zur Geschichte des Herrschersitzes im Mittelalter I.

Left: A painted bridal (two-seat) chair or Brudbänk dating from 1200 in Tofta church, Gotland. Sweden. 

Right: 13th century chair from Lärbro church, Gotland, Sweden.

An even older example of such a chair from grave 58 of Trossingen, 400 A.D. Image from internet.

Sources: 

• Horst Appuhn. Beitrage zur Geschichte des Herrschersitzes im Mittelalter I. Teil: Gedrechselte Sitze.
• W. Karlson. Studier i Sveriges medeltida möbelkonst.
• Hof van Cyrene - wonen aan de Schie. Bochtafsnijding Delftse Schie, gemeente Schiedam. Rapport 3617. edited by J. Loopik. ISSN 1875-1067.